Is Manila becoming a global city ? Bonifacio Global City PDF

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INTER-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON ASIAN MEGACITIES: ASIAN URBANISM AND BEYOND 15-17 August 2013 Is Manila becoming a global city ? The development of Bonifacio Global City in Taguig BOQUET Yves UNIVERSITÉ de BOURGOGNE, 2 boulevard Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France [email protected] Visiting professor ...

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INTER-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON ASIAN MEGACITIES: ASIAN URBANISM AND BEYOND 15-17 August 2013

Is Manila becoming a global city ? The development of Bonifacio Global City in Taguig BOQUET Yves UNIVERSITÉ de BOURGOGNE, 2 boulevard Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France [email protected] Visiting professor at the University of the Philippines-Diliman Abstract Global city-ness has become as buzzword in many metropolises around the globe. If Hong Kong self-definess as Asia’s global city in its marketing campaigns, other major cities such as Singapore can reasonably claim for the same status, which is also a clearly defined goal for Shanghai. In the Philippines, a country born out of early globalization and Spanish colonialism in the 16th century, the role of Manila as a major contemporary economic hub of global importance is not as evident. Linkages to the world, both in maritime and aviation, are much more limited (no direct flights to Europe), and the insufficient development of transport infrastructure, coupled with widespread corruption and the high cost of energy has hampered the inflow of foreign investment in the country, even if the metropolitan area appears now to be one the top sites in the world for the location of call centers and other BPO enterprises. The claim to world cityness is apparent in the development of several nodes of economic activity across the metropolitan area. MetroManila is made up of 17 municipalities, for a total population of 12 million people approximately. They are competing for real estate investment, and the opportunities offered by the release of military land after the withdrawal of American troops in the early 1990s has allowed the rise of major redevelopment projects. The most emblematic among them, even if still second to Makati’s CBD, and challenged in the future by the future Quezon City’s CBD, is Bonifacio Global City, now rising on the former grounds of Fort Bonifacio in Taguig municipality, half-way between the Makati Business Center and Manila’s international airport in Pasay. An “ideal Manila”, far from the squalid conditions of nearby slums, is taking shape. We will analyze some of the discourse re-imaging Manila into the newest global city of Southeast Asia. In Quezon City, the plan for a new CBD has been the source of many violent clashes

INTER-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON ASIAN MEGACITIES: ASIAN URBANISM AND BEYOND 15-17 August 2013

with informal settlers evicted from their houses in the name of modernization and sent to distant suburbs where jobs are scarce. Both examples show that the quest for worldcityness and planning for efficient urban cores leads, in Manila as elsewhere, to a increased disenfranchising of large segments of society. Keywords: Philippines, Manila, CBD, planning, world city, military land conversion

In this early 21st century, landscapes of Asian cities reflect their growing role in the world economy. Stunning architecture, efficient logistical platforms, ports and airports, massive changes in the daily mobility of residents, urban sprawl making the city grow into its rural hinterland (McGee 1991) at the same time it is verticalizing, rapid proliferation of “world-class” shopping malls and urban megaprojects (Olds 1995) are sure signs that the young century may well be “Asia’s century”. Leading Western scholars (Friedmann 1986, Sassen 1992, Hall 1996, among others) have identified a few major global cities in the early 1990’s: New York City, London, Tokyo and possibly Paris. There is now strong evidence that other cities “beyond the West” (Gugler 2004), also have grounds to claim their status as global city. Hong Kong markets itself as “Asia’s world city”, while Singapore can also be considered as a global hub, not only for airlines and ships, but also for business, finance and increasingly tourism. Rankings done by the GaWC at Lougborough University reveal unexpected hierarchies between world cities 1. Measuring the “intensiveness of globalization in the world’s cities”, GaWC researchers place in their top category (Alpha ++) Chicago and New York, followed (Alpha +) by Washington, London, Los Angeles and San Francisco, then Palo Alto and Boston (Alpha), and rounding up the top cities in that category (Alpha –) we find Brussels, Philadelphia and Houston, while Paris and Frankfurt are Beta + . Not a single Asian city until Hong Kong (Beta), then Tokyo and Beijing (Beta –). Singapore appears – quite surprisingly – as “non globally intensive”, contrary to Almaty (Gamma –), Phoenix, Charlotte and Baltimore (Gamma). Anglosaxon bias or just the taking into account of the population diversity brought about by massive immigration to the United States ?

1

“The world according to GaWC”, http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2010t2.html, consulted on June 26, 2013

INTER-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON ASIAN MEGACITIES: ASIAN URBANISM AND BEYOND 15-17 August 2013

In a parallel ranking, “extensiveness of globalization” reflecting the global reach of cities, surprises also abound : there are no Alpha ++ or Alpha + cities. In the “Alpha” category, New York, Chicago and London are joined by Johannesburg and Mexico City. The “Alpha –” cities are Istanbul, Sydney, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Athens (!), Buenos Aires and Toronto. In the “Beta +” category we find Copenhagen, Santiago de Chile, Mumbai, Lima, Paris and Manila. The Philippine capital ranks therefore above Singapore (Beta –), Hong Kong (Gamma –) or Tokyo (not ranked). Whatever questions may be raised about the methodology and the validity of results, which seem quite counter-intuitive, the fact that Manila appears in this ranking as the second highest Asian city in this “extensiveness of globalization ranking” leads to further investigation of what may make Metro Manila worthy of comparison with the likes of Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul or Tokyo in the “world city” status rankings. Are the Philippines a country that counts in the world economy ? Does the urban fabric of Manila show the same trends observed in other world cities ? Is there an effort in the Philippines to create globalness in Manila ? If so, are there any districts clearly designed for globalness ? To answer this last question we will look more in detail at one of the rising (in all meanings of the term) subdistricts: Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, one of the 17 municipalities of Metro Manila. 1. The Philippines and Manila in the global economy 1. 1. Prominent Asian cities If Hong Kong and Singapore have now passed Paris and Tokyo as financial centres with global reach, becoming central nodes in the exchange circuits between worldwide producer services firms, not all Asian cities have fared so prominently. The position of Tokyo has somewhat eroded with the stagnation of the Japanese economy in the last two decades, but the Japanese capital remains a powerful economic center. The impressive emergence of Korean chaebol on world markets has increased the visibility of Seoul, while the opening of China has given enormous energy to Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, and Malaysia’s global push under the Mahathir leadership has also helped Kuala Lumpur to position itself. Their capacities to attract foreign capital, multinational corporations regional headquarters through top-notch transportation facilities and high-tech telecommunication networks, as well as entertainement and leisure activities have been well analyzed (Lo & Yeung 1996, Yeoh 1999, Shin & Timberlake 2000, Smith &

INTER-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON ASIAN MEGACITIES: ASIAN URBANISM AND BEYOND 15-17 August 2013

Timberlake 2002, Laquian 2005, Perera & Tang 2007, Roy & Ong 2011, Shirley & Neill 2013) and contribute to their world-level metropolization (Leroy 2000), as they enter the small club of world cities. Managers of cities have teamed up with developers to become entrepreneurs (Harvey 1989) and create a brand(ing) new image of the Asian city, far from the lived realities of millions of their residents, asked or forced to step aside in the name of progress and modernity (Smith 2002). Neoliberalism at the global scale has profoundly altered the urban fabric in the largest cities emerging Asian nations, creating gentrified spaces of globalization across those metropolitan areas (Park & al. 2011). However, some other Asian megacities, such as Taipei, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok and New Delhi have remained fairly weak in the financial markets and the local brands have not found much success in world markets. Increasing numbers of tourists and business people have not made them major actors on the world stage, but rather recipients of foreign money or investment in a classic international division of labor system. Southeast Asian cities such as Manila are not just Third World cities anymore (Dick & Rimmer 1998), but are they fully globalized ? 1.2. Characteristics of the Philippine economy The Philippines, in particular, have been a laggard in economic growth for the second half of the last century (Balicasan 2000, Maca & Morris 2012). If the country’s GDP per capita was second only to Japan at the end of World War II, the lack of investment in transportation infrastructures and the choice of a strategy of inward rather than outward industrialization (imports substitution) has made the country less susceptible to international economic turmoil than some of its neigbors (Thailand) but also insured a lower rate of economic growth. Economic policy choices appear to have led to under-development of the economy, which squandered many great opportunities by choosing the wrong set of policies at the wrong time (Bello 2004, Yap & al. 2011), and to uneven development at the expense of most provinces (Clausen 2010). In a context of high population growth (under the powerful influence of the Catholic church resisting efforts for effective birth control policies with), many Filipinos have a hard time earning enough to eat adequately, either in the countryside (insignificant agrarian reform leaving most of the lands in the hands of a politically powerful elite and out of the landless farm workers) or in large cities, especially Manila, where poor people have poured in to swell the ranks of squatters alongside railtracks, rivers and near trash sites. A huge number of Filipinos (more than 10% of the population) must live and work abroad (Tyner 2000): remittances from sailors, maids, gardeners or nurses are currently

INTER-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON ASIAN MEGACITIES: ASIAN URBANISM AND BEYOND 15-17 August 2013

the largest source of foreign money entering the archipelago. Despite an ideal geographic position facing the coast of China, halfway between Japan and Singapore, the country has not been able to attract much industrial investment (King 2007, Ofreneo 2008). Poor transportation infrastructure (airports, ports, roads, rail) (O’Connor 2010), high costs of electric power and pervasive corruption at all levels have often been cited as deterrents to the development of a dynamic economy in the Philippines (Canlas 2003, Boquet 2011). The country appears to some as a sleeping dragon (Giri 1997). However, it has been able to capitalize on some assets to be a niche player in the world economy. The American colonization of the Philippines (1898-1946), following centuries of Spanish rule, has made the Philippines the best English-speaking country in East Asia. Most of the population can speak at least some English, and the universities are now attracting a large number of Asian students, from China, Japan or Korea, wanting to learn English at a fraction of the cost of a college education in the US, Canada or England. One of the brightest spots of the Philippine economy in recent years has been the rise of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) activities, especially call centers. The familiarity of Filipino employees with the English language and the western culture makes them ideal employees, with a much less thick accent than Indians. The Philippines are now overtaking India as the top call center country in the world. Many Filipinos are adept users of social networks and cellphone texting, which makes the job in call centers quite natural for many of them. Local colleges are now developing courses to train future employees. Some of the most prominent ones are the Asian College of Technology in Cebu City, and the Umaks Langage Center, opened by the University of Makati, located in a major business district in the Manila metropolitan area, under the leadership of then-mayor Jejomar Binay, currently vice-president of the country. Partnerships have been established between universities and call-center companies: for example, TeleDevelopment Services, a Cleveland-based firm has teamed up with De La Salle University in Manila to open a Call Center Training Institute; the University of the Visayas, in the center of the country, has created a course named “Call Center Fundamentals” in cooperation with the major phone operator in the country, PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone).

INTER-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON ASIAN MEGACITIES: ASIAN URBANISM AND BEYOND 15-17 August 2013

1.3. The emergence of business districts in the Manila area The decentralization of national government functions to the local government units of cities, municipalities, and provinces has given them more power to negociate directly with developers to attract investment (Porio 2009). The growth of call centers, which concentrate mostly in the Manila area, has enhanced the development of business districts. In fact, the recent spurt in growth of the Philippines may be in part attributed to the growth of BPO operations. Telecenters need space and a good communications network. They can be found in high-rise office buildings growing in many parts of the MetroManila area. An online directory of call centers in the Philippines 2 lists 1150 of them in the Philippines. The top locations are Makati (374) and Mandaluyong / Ortigas Center (245), followed by Quezon City (109), Eastwood City Cyberpark in Quezon City (55), Manila (43), Taguig (41), Alabang-Muntinlupa (38) and Pasig (35). These MetroManila locatons account for 82% of the total, with some additional sites on the outskirts of the National Capital Region. In the provinces, only Cebu (59) appears also as a major attraction pole for call centers. According to a 2013 study by a global real estate consultancy firm 3, BPO needs are likely to spur the rise of more Metro Manila business districts. The urgency for Business Process Outsourcing companies to provide round-the-clock service to their clients across the world, with a strong support of the Philippine governement, is combining with their need to be located in the proximity of densely populated areas where potential employees reside. This has led to the growth of mixed-use districts acroos the metropolitan area : high-rise office buildings integrated with retail facilities and residential condos, preferably in the vicinity of major transport infrastructures, the airport, the metro rail lines and the main boulevards, especially the C4 (“EDSA”) and C5 circumferential roads. More than half of all local office space leased since 2006 have been taken up by major BPO players (De la Fuente 2012). The central section of Manila, near the old Spanish walled city (“Intramuros”) is not the dominant central business district of the Manila metropolitan area. In fact, the 2

http://www.callcenterdirectory.net/call-center/Philippines/directory-2-page-1.html, consulted on June 28th, 2013 3

Manila Bulletin, May 5th, 2013, “BPO needs spur rise of more Metro Manila business districts”

INTER-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON ASIAN MEGACITIES: ASIAN URBANISM AND BEYOND 15-17 August 2013

Philippine capital has developed a number of business centers in several municipalities. They could be easily called Edge Cities if we use Joel Garreau’s terminology (Garreau 1991), since they combine a location away from the urban core, near major transportation routes, among them the C4 semi-beltway “Edsa” (Epifanio De los Santos Avenue), and offer a rich mix of business, offices, research, shopping, recreation and housing, albeit in a much more compact setting than what Garreau describes in suburban Washington, Atlanta or Dallas. Competition between municipalities for real estate investments by large property developers and a lack of effective metro-wide planning by the MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) has led to the proliferation of business centers decided by local authorities signing deals with developers to capitalize on their geographic position relative to major transportation axis. The landscape of Manila as a whole is a sea of low-lying poor residential districts, many of them slum-like areas inhabited by squatters, from which emerge here and there islands of planned business districts in the form of clusters of high-rise buildings and shopping malls. As many cities in the developing world, Manila appears as a patchwork of places, a fragmented city (Balbo 1993, Connell 1999, Guéguen 2007), while neo-liberal America-style gated communities are growing in the suburbs (Ortega 2012). From two dominant business districts in Makati City and Ortigas Center (Mandaluyong/Pasig), holding respectively 65% and 26% of MetroManila office space in 2006 (Estavillo 2006), there are now more than 20 business clusters in the metropolitan area. Some observers have identified as much as 29 business centers in MetroManila (Salazar 2013) : twenty six are listed by Jones Lang Lasalle consultants as “Emerging Urban Districts”, which may be mostly major shopping clusters (Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City), technopoles (UP Ayala Technohub in Diliman, Quezon City, near the main campus of the University of the Philippines) or office centers mixed with residential high-rise buildings and major malls (in Mandaluyong around Robinson or SM Megamall, in Pasay next to SM Mall of Asia). JLL consultants also identified three major Central Business Districts : Makati City, Ortigas Center and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. 2. From Fort Bonifacio to Bonifacio Global City 2.1. Military bases reconversion At the present time, the country’s fastest-growing business district is Bonifacio Global

INTER-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON ASIAN MEGACITIES: ASIAN URBANISM AND BEYOND 15-17 August 2013

City, coupled with developments from the nearby McKinley Hill area developed by Megaworld Corp. Bonifacio Global City (BGC), formerly known as Fort Bonifacio, is a district in Taguig, in the southern part of the metropolitan area, about 2 kilometers to the East of the Makati CBD and 5 kilometers to the Northeast of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Located about 8 kilometers Southeast of the city center of Manila itself, it was originally, from 1902 to 1949, developed as an 26 square kilometers American military facility known then as Fort William Mc Kinley (named after the 25th US president).

Figure 1. Location of Fort Bonifacio within the MetroManila area.

After the independence of the Philippines from the United States in 1946, American forces retained control of some military lands, such as the naval base of Subic Bay in Olongapo (Zambales province) and the Clark Airbase in Angeles City, Pampanga, both located about 100 kilometers North of Manila, which were essential elements in the US defense system for the Asia Pacific region during the Cold War era (Korean war, Vietnam war). However, Fort McKinley was given back to the Philippines as early as 1949, and was renamed Fort Bonifacio, in honor of one the heroes of Philippine uprising against Spanish colonial domination in the the late 19th century. It became the headquarters of

INTER-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR ON ASIAN MEGACITIES: ASIAN URBANISM AND BEYOND 15-17 August 2013

the Philippine Army in 1957, also hosting the Southern Police District. During the Marcos dicatatorship years, it was used at a detention facilities for political opponents. It is in close proximity to Villamor Air Force base, headquarters of the Philippine Air Force, located at the NAIA airport. American forces continued to use Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Complex, as well as some sma...